I'd also like to say that if it weren't for DU, and you guys suffering through my rantings and arguing - at what one blog review characterized as "graduate-level debate". Or was it "post-graduate-level debate"? It's been awhile. But my views have been strengthened and better-informed for my involvement here. So I'm grateful to my DU brothers and sisters for helping to enlarge and educate me! And I've found that people's writing styles and skills become sharpened when they "exercise" here - it's not just me.

A similar column, which I updated because of the Tennessee GOP's fun little Youtube spot, appeared here awhile ago thanks to our own Tace and World News Trust.

It was the first thing I sent to the Huffingtonis. They liked it a lot but by the time I'd gathered up enough courage to submit it, a few days had gone by since the event that inspired it: when cindy mccain made her snippy little remark against Michelle Obama about how SHE was proud of America - and "...I don't know about you (Michelle)." See cindy meow. Meow, cindy, meow. They emailed me back that it was good but by then was a few days old and could I write something else a little more current. Which I did.

But it was a good column and when Michelle Obama came under a second attack from a Youtube propaganda piece featuring a rifle-loving, pool-shooting hayseed and a bunch of like-"minded" cronies, I saw an opportunity to resubmit it, as updated.

I'm afraid I've been a little lax about staying on top of that list - the Five Star Activists Resource Thread could probably use a little updating, but time has run away from me. But there's still stuff in there that will stand, and every so often I see something that is worth noting there. And so do other people - LOTS of DUers have contributed to that set of listings.

37. Yeah, everyone shares some blame, I'm sure, but I think ours is minimal by comparison.

At least we knew the truth and tried to get it out there. But we were ignored and dismissed and derided and in many cases bullied, threatened, and terrorized into submission. I still have some nice little key scars along the sides of my car from when I had bumper stickers in the back window that some asshole bush-lover didn't approve of. I consider those badges of honor.

And frankly, sometimes I wonder what the heck else we could have done about it, what more we could have done to make any impact. The deck was just too damned stacked. Some of us really tried, and tried HARD! Some of us were out there on the picket lines every day, or every time there was a rally. I still know people who show up at the Federal Building in Westwood, or at the same street corner in the Palisades on various Thursdays during rush hour. How many of us marched, held candlelight vigils, leafleted, appealed to our Congress-critters and Senators, called those toll free numbers to Capitol Hill, emailed, faxed, petitioned, wrote letters to the editor, wrote messages to Jack Cafferty (like our own jenmito has), called in on talk radio, submitted op-ed pieces to local newspapers, tried to talk sense into gullible or misguided friends, coworkers, neighbors, in-laws and other family members, and all the souls we tried to save, and so much more - and nothing seemed to make any difference.

I'm just glad that I can face my own conscience knowing I tried. ALL of us on DU who made that kind of effort - even in small ways - can at least hold our heads high in that respect. A-plus for effort. I just wish we had more to show for it.

It's an interesting essay..thanks for straightening out that whole gop ad in Tennessee with Michelle Obama as their big bad nemesis and bringing in the history of your friend, Julie's disappointment and "shame".

I'm really glad to know this whole thing..it should be shouted from the rooftops.. The full original quote!

"On February 29, 1872, Senator Carl Schurz of Missouri made the following remark on the floor of the United States Senate:"....My country; and my country is the great American Republic. My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right." (The Congressional Globe, vol. 45, p. 1287)

42. Yeah, when I got that call from my friend, and she just started wailing about it.

"I'm SO a-SHAMED!" Again and again and again. It just damn near broke my heart. She was in real anguish.

This is a woman of conscience. She, like all of us, wants only the best for the country she loves and believes in so strongly. And she is literally agonizing about what she feels she's done. You know, people of good faith and conscience shouldn't have to be made to feel like that. These asshole sheisters and fast-talkers and greedy wheeler-dealers shouldn't be able to prey on the good faith and belief of loyal, good-hearted, hard-working, trusting Americans and waltz them down the garden path to complete derision - where they're hanging their heads in sorrow, completely heartsick. It shouldn't come to that, EVER. She holds herself accountable. Which makes her a lot bigger person than any of these weasels - who bullshitted her and fooled her and rooked her and stole from her and won't admit they made any mistakes - will EVER be, in one THOUSAND lifetimes.

And she just blurted that out. Volunteered it without ANY prompting from me whatsoever. A time of great sorrow this is. I can't think of too many people who've caused this level or magnitude of misery, heartache, and tears. Well, except for the obvious - like Hitler and the like.

I just hope there's justice some day (and that maybe I live to see it).

52. Thank you. I keep thinking MAYBE I'll stumble upon just the exact wording or

argument that will change some minds in some fairly high places. Like maybe John Conyers-land or Nancy Pelosi-land, or some other players to be softened-up later. 'Cause it's never too late to IMPEACH...

everybody in that smarmy voice with "my friends..." I find myself shrinking away from that salutation! But sometimes instinct just takes over, y'know?

I'm working on one now. Tace, I owe YOU a SPECIAL debt of gratitude. You made this possible by giving me a place for my pieces. You made this possible by making it thinkable for me to expand and to try to go for it and push a little farther. 'Cause I had you and Tandalayo Scheisskopf and others HERE who had faith in me! Just a little bit hard to forget. A little bit impossible.

I bet anyone who hangs here, or posts here (and elsewhere, too) has something in them moving them to express their thoughts, fears, anguish, jubilation, frustration, etc. If you start putting it down into words, you're a writer!

Do you journal at all? Everybody who's anybody in any kind of authorship would highly recommend it. That's one of the first and most essential things that Julia Cameron recommends in "The Artist's Way" - for enhancing your creativity, harnessing your ideas, developing your thinking. I've heard her speak as well as reading her books, and she says again and again, "Do Your 'Morning Pages'!" That means - write three pages every day, preferably in the morning when your mind is fresh and not yet completely distracted by the day. Write three pages of whatever. Something. Anything. The important thing is that you just simply do it. And you start getting better. It starts getting easier and coming faster. Your creativity starts to grow - as though it's taking some vitamin supplements or something. It just sorta happens over time. You just start getting better at it. It's a really good centering exercise, just anyway, whether you have something ahead of you to accomplish or a goal to set or problem to solve or whatever it is. She actually recommends doing it longhand, pen-to-paper, but I think ANY sort of writing is good, just as long as you do it.

And there's SO MUCH eloquence here on DU!!! Shoot - it's EVERYWHERE!!! And every time you do it, you get a little teeny bit better.

My DU journal hasn't received much of my attention for awhile. Maybe focusing on non-political topics would help; at least the urge to dive into GD-P for a catch-up wouldn't interrupt my efforts (as much, anyway). Writing is something I have enjoyed all my life, like drawing, but the will to finish anything evaporates in either case more often than not. It just takes seeing someone with the right stuff, whether in pencil drawing or writing, to stir up the urge again.

If you think about it, Barack and Michelle have grown up mostly during a repub reign where so many rights fought for in the 30s, 60s and 70s were slowly taken away or diminished. Not just the need for racial equality and women's rights but every average American who bothered to notice that they were being controlled by a govt. that claimed they wanted smaller govt. but actually were making the govt. more powerful. Our govt. in the past 8 years have been unbelievably vicious.

We get what Michelle was referring to. People are waking up and speaking out.

And it's neither unpatriotic nor unAmerican. Our country has taken ill in the past thirty-or-so years. Sometimes the medicine you need to take when you're sick doesn't taste great or is difficult to swallow. But you take it because you know it will help you get better. At least if you've got half a brain and at least a tiny shard of maturity.

I'm feeling kinda guilty so I apologize to everybody here - I'm TRULY not trying just to massage this thread. I just want to make sure everybody who was kind enough to post here gets a thank-you. It means a LOT to me! Like that cat that caught the rat.

I had a cat like that when I was a kid (and it was safer to let your pets run around way back in the back hillsides all day). We lived in a canyon and coyotes became a bigger and bigger problem for housepets, and we eventually switched to keeping our cats indoors fulltime. But this cat was a GREAT mouser. The first time he brought his big trophy home and proudly laid it on the top step of the back steps, my mother freaked! Screamed! Did NOT understand the gesture. Thought it was horrifying and gross - she didn't like mice or rats. From then on, that cat would bring every fresh kill to our next-door neighbors - who reacted properly (with great appreciation, soothing praise-filled voices and cat treats). We never got another one at the back door.

the nation who liberated Europe from the death grip of Hitler...the nation which caused the communist regime in USSR to fall apart...the nation which has given more foreign aid than all other countries combined...the nation which was the first to free slaves and to pass civil rights bill...

Surely USA is not perfect. No nation past or present is perfect. Only God is perfect.So, I add up all the positives and negatives and USA comes on the top. Where elsecould a poor student arrive as an immigrant and achieve the American dream except in USA? Show me!

I suspect that all of us here, who lament what we know our country could be, are in a search for perfection. We know what our country is capable of in its finest moments. And we want more of that! I'm glad to hear it's been good to you. It should be that - for everyone everywhere.

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